Date: 1796

"She sank into a chair, reclined her head upon her arm, and gazed upon the floor with a vacant stare, while the most gloomy images floated before her fancy."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"In every heart to find a slave, / In every soul to fix his reign, / In bonds to lead the wise and brave, / And make the captives kiss his chain; / Such is the power of Love, and oh! / I grieve so well Love's power to know."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"The vision had made too strong an impression upon her mind, to permit her resting till assured of her daughter's safety."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"Aided by her youth and healthy constitution, she shook off the malady which her mother's death had occasioned; but it was not so easy to remove the disease of her mind."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"She had naturally a strong inclination to the marvellous; and her nurse, who believed firmly in apparitions, had related to her, when an infant, so many horrible adventures of this kind, that all Elvira's attempts had failed to eradicate their impressions from her daughter's mind."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"She could not believe that the spectre had been a mere creature of her imagination: every circumstance was impressed upon her mind too forcibly to permit her flattering herself with such an idea."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"Upon this head Matilda re-assured him. She confirmed the arguments which himself had already used: she declared Antonia to have been deceived by the wandering of her brain, by the spleen which oppressed her at the moment, and by the natural turn of her mind to superstition and the marvellous."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"In spite of Matilda's assurances, that the spectre was a mere creation of fancy, his mind was impressed with a certain mysterious horror."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"I am now convinced that my reason wandered, and the falsehood of the ghost's prediction is sufficient to prove my error."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"A secret, an horrible secret weighs heavy upon my soul."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)